Safety Bradyn Smith has been coached by three different staffs during his time at Western Illinois. He enters the 2024 season as the team’s returning tackles leader. (Photo by Barry Bottino, PrairieStatePigskin.com)
By Barry Bottino
MACOMB – During his four seasons at Western Illinois, Bradyn Smith has played for three head coaches and endured the longest losing streak in school history.
But the senior safety knows exactly where his football future will be.
“I have two years left,” he said Friday night at Hanson Field after the program’s annual spring game. “I absolutely plan on taking them both with this coaching staff. It’s been amazing.
“They’ve made me love Western football again,” said Smith, the Leathernecks’ leading tackler last season with 73 in only nine games.
Smith and his Purple (defense) teammates were all smiles after beating the White team (offense), 66-65, in their first spring under new head coach Joe Davis, the former offensive coordinator at Eastern Illinois.
“The vibes are just way better,” Smith said. “It’s a lot happier. Everybody is happy and excited to get better for this fall.”
Buzzing in Macomb
The energetic Davis and his staff, which includes defensive coordinator/safeties coach Dan McKeown from Michigan’s Saginaw Valley State and offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Brad Wilson from the University of Indianapolis, made an impression in the team’s 15 practices.
“(The coaches’ attitude) rubs off on us by just giving us energy during practice,” said Thomas Brunner, a transfer defensive lineman from Wisconsin who had a sack and a tackle for loss Friday. “It’s nice to have coaches to feed the group. I love the coaches. I love Coach Davis. What he brings is special. I believe in him. He believes in me. I knew in my heart that this was the right place to go.”
“When you hear Coach Davis talk, it lights up a room,” Smith said. “You want to go out there and run through a brick wall.”
Davis and his assistants spent much of Friday’s warmups and spring game teaching players individually. That hands-on approach has filtered through the program at WIU, where the Leathernecks are in the midst of a 24-game losing streak.
“When I put together this staff, it was important to me to find great people first, guys that were very enthusiastic about using the game of football as a platform to mentor,” Davis said. “I also wanted guys that wanted to be here. We all understood the challenge that we were taking on. Nobody shied away. Everybody was like, ‘Coach, let’s go.’”
Fixing the defense
In its final year in the Missouri Valley Football Conference last fall, Western’s defense had more than its share of struggles.
The Leathernecks ranked last in the country in total defense (477.9 yards a game) and scoring defense (46.27 points a game).
Western’s first season in the Big South/Ohio Valley Conference this fall provides an opportunity to turn the page.
“The No. 1 thing is progression,” McKeown said. “It’s been pretty simple this spring, just getting to the fundamentals. We’ve got kids that want to win. We just have to learn how to win.”
For players such as returning linebacker Mike Newman of DeKalb, that process has involved simple goals.
“We’re putting our focus on the little things and the big things will come,” he said. “We’re not worried about wins. We’re just worried about getting better. We’ve still got a lot to do.”
Smith said McKeown’s spring lessons have made the defense more effective.
“From a back end perspective, the techniques and the footwork we’re doing is completely different,” he said. “It’s all about efficiency. Coach McKeown’s got us right.”
“I’m feeling really comfortable,” Newman added. “(The scheme) allows me to roam a lot, which is my strength.”
One goal for the fall is obvious, however.
“I’m going to tell you what everybody else in the country would tell you,” McKeown said. “We want to stop that run.”
Building relationships
For Smith, Newman and other returnees, the new staff has focused on building trust.
“You’ve got to show them what’s in it for them and you’ve got to show them proof,” said McKeown, who led one of the top defense’s in Division II last fall.
Davis said two things will be foundational during his tenure at WIU.
“Truth and love,” he said. “You’ve got to be honest with players, whether it’s good honesty or telling them something they may not necessarily want to hear. That builds trust.
“They ultimately will know that they will always get the truth from this coaching staff. Then we’re going to love them.”
Football gives Davis and his coaching staff plenty of opportunities to share lessons and make an impact.
“These are young men,” he said. “They make mistakes. They do good things, they do bad things. It’s our job to mentor and teach and love them when they need to be loved and give them a kick when they need that too.”
Barry Bottino is a co-founder of Prairie State Pigskin and a 19-year veteran of three Illinois newspapers. He has covered college athletics since 1995.
Find us on social media! Twitter: https://twitter.com/PSPigskin
Facebook: Prairie State Pigskin
Instagram: Prairiestatepigskin
Prairie State Pigskin 
Leave a comment